Eustar was flustered and at a loss for words for a moment. Pacing anxiously with his hand covering his mouth, he turned his gaze back to Laila.

“Laila, do you realize how dangerous and absurd what you’re saying is?”

Laila was not surprised to hear those words.

She was usually indifferent to her own affairs, so she wasn’t as visibly flustered as Eustar, but she knew she couldn’t just laugh off what she had experienced.

Eustar continued.

“If something like that happens again…”

“I’ll tell you.”

Laila quickly interjected, cutting off his words. However, neither she nor Eustar could completely put their minds at ease. What had just happened…

When Eustar looked back, Laila was already gone.

If the sync continued to pull her in, and if next time it exerted an even stronger influence, how could he know in advance and prevent it?

Just then, Laila lightly touched the back of Eustar’s hand. It was a very brief and subtle contact, but since it was extremely rare for Laila to initiate touch with him, Eustar flinched as if he had been stabbed with a knife.

“Eustar, don’t worry too much. I’m fine now. And isn’t what we should worry about first not what has already happened, but what’s to come? We need to think about what will happen in the future.”

Eustar let out a long sigh and drooped his shoulders. He couldn’t argue because her words were right. Nevertheless, something uncomfortable, like a large undigested stone, seemed to be sitting in his stomach.

“Lord Eustar, it’s Tiltil. May I come in?”

A polite voice was heard. When Eustar told her to enter, Tiltil pushed open the half-open door and came in.

She bowed simultaneously to Laila and Eustar, then stood up straight and said,

“Havashuka’s Director Olga wishes to see you and Lady Kristrad.”

“Is it a personal communication?”

“No, it seems she has found information about the monster.”

Eustar nodded and said,

“Let’s go, Laila.”

Felix was nowhere to be seen.

Instead, other unit commanders and senior members were gathered, and Muge’s face was displayed large on the magic communication device. With her chin slightly lowered, her forehead appeared round and bulging, giving her a strange appearance.

“I’ve figured it out.”

As Muge Olga opened her mouth, everyone held their breath and waited for her next words. Judging by the thick books messily strewn around her, she seemed to have been searching for information about the monster without a moment’s rest.

“First of all, the monster you’ve captured is most similar to one recorded in a previous era called ‘Stogen’. There are a few noticeable differences, but they’re not that significant. It’s like the difference between a blue frog and a green frog.”

Laila slightly furrowed her brow at the subtle comparison. Muge glanced at her, made a snorting gesture, and continued.

“You said the monster’s skin and exoskeleton were like rock, and it’s the same with Stogen. However, it’s not actual rock, just as hard. It can’t be cut with a sword, but it can be damaged with blunt weapons, that’s the same. So to kill it, you need to target its shell.”

Eustar, who had been quietly listening to Muge until then, folded his arms and asked,

“The shell? Is that its weakness?”

Muge on the other side of the screen nodded.

“That’s right. It’s the creature’s only weakness. It’s its strongest defense, but paradoxically, also its weakest point.”

Tiltil asked,

“Do we need to break the shell, Director?”

“What are you saying? It won’t even budge with ordinary weapons. I just said it’s the strongest defense, didn’t I?”

“Then how…”

“You don’t break it. You need to peel off the shell and open it.”

Silence fell among the gathered people. Just imagining peeling off the monster’s exoskeleton from its skin made their knees weak and sent chills down their spines.

However, Muge continued her explanation as if it were nothing,

“I heard children have disappeared, and this Stogen monster also eats young children. According to records, Stogen is good at mimicking human voices, mainly those of old humans. It uses such voices to ask for help and lure in naive children. But this monster… What did you say earlier, Tiltil? About what was left at the scene?”

Tiltil stepped forward and answered,

“There were crudely carved wooden pieces with coin-like patterns and rotten candy wrappers. There were also candy pieces left behind.”

“Hmm, then this one might be showing hallucinations instead of mimicking voices.”

At those words, everyone turned to look at Laila. Laila had initially said something similar.

Muge continued,

“When children approach, Stogen opens its shell and puts them inside. It then slowly digests them after trapping them. It hardly moves while digesting. You said the one you caught kept moving, right?”

Eustar nodded.

“That’s right, it kept moving. That’s why our members captured it.”

“Then it’s likely to be a male.”

A confused murmur spread among the people.

“A male?”

When Laila asked, Muge blinked as if wondering why she was asking.

“Why, did you think monsters don’t have gender distinctions?”

After hesitating for a moment, Laila stared at Muge.

“I’ve never seen any that were clearly distinguishable by sight.”

“You shouldn’t think that what’s visible is everything, witch.”

At that moment, Eustar interjected.

“I’d appreciate it if you could refrain from such expressions, Olga.”

Muge snorted with a caustic attitude.

“How touching. Anyway, fine. ‘Laila’. What’s visible isn’t everything. Monsters are very complex creatures. Even after cross-examining and reviewing records from previous eras and up to recent times, there are still endless unknowns. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Laila nodded. Muge picked up a book lying next to her, flipped through it, then carelessly threw it behind her back and said,

“Stogen mates during the full moon. The male goes to find the female. It doesn’t eat anything until it meets the female and finishes mating, so its shell will be empty. The one that took the children, what you’re looking for, is probably a female.”

“Today is the full moon, Director Olga.”

“That’s why I’m saying this, Tiltil. Let it go. Let it find the female. For your information, the female keeps the last child it swallowed inside its shell until mating is finished. And from the moment mating begins, it starts secreting digestive fluids and begins to ‘eat’. So you need to quietly follow the male until it finds the female, and kill it the moment mating begins.”

Eustar raised one hand lightly, as if in an official meeting.

“The method of killing, is it as you said earlier, opening the shell?”

“That’s right. During digestion, the shell’s interlocking becomes tighter, making it harder to open. The interlocking is weakest at the front leg part… From what I saw of that creature earlier, it looks like human arms, but anyway, the part corresponding to human armpits is the weakest. You need to pry that part open in one go.”

Laila muttered quietly, as if talking to herself.

“So we need to open it like shucking an oyster.”

Then, after a moment of silence, Muge unexpectedly raised one corner of her mouth slightly.

“That’s right. Exactly that. Well then, good luck. Send the shell this way. We’ll use it for research.”

With a pop, Muge’s image disappeared. At the same time, Felix appeared, but wherever he had been and whatever he had been doing, his face and clothes were covered in mud, looking a mess.

“Felix, where have you been?”

“The monster’s resistance kept getting worse, so I went to reinforce the net. Ugh, damn it. The creature spat mud at me. It smells awful.”

Eustar said,

“I’m sorry you had to go through that trouble, but we’ll have to undo the reinforced net.”

Felix’s eyes widened.

“What? No, what do you… Oh, Lord Eustar! Please! Can’t you at least let me feel a sense of accomplishment for ten minutes before undoing it?”

The growling cry of the monster eerily shook the cold forest air.

Released from the net, the monster began to crawl endlessly towards somewhere, dragging its broken hind legs. The members decided to split into groups and quietly follow the monster from different directions.

Eustar, Laila, and Felix moved together. Since the monster’s speed wasn’t very fast, there was no need to use runners. It was fortunate, considering that they didn’t know how far it would go.

“Lord Eustar, I’ll go check on Margue’s unit.”

As Eustar nodded, Felix quickly moved to the right with lowered light intensity—to avoid attracting the monster’s attention—and disappeared in the blink of an eye. Laila, who had been staring intently in the direction Felix had vanished, asked,

“What kind of relationship do Director Felix and… Director Olga have?”

“What do you mean?”

Laila’s shoulders lifted slightly.

“They seem to be on quite bad terms.”

“Ah.”

Belatedly understanding her words, Eustar nodded.

“Yes, well… That’s right. They’ve almost come to blows several times, so I can’t say they’re on good terms.”

Laila asked,

“What’s the reason for their bad relationship?”

Eustar hesitated for a moment, as if unsure how to explain.

“The two families… are something like ancient enemies from a distant time. That’s probably why.”

Laila frowned and asked,

“Like the villages of Vintoshis and Hoyerhis?”

Eustar smiled with an ambiguous expression.

“Much worse than that. But it’s an issue far older than those villages… I understand both their feelings, but honestly, I’ve wanted to ask them more than once if there’s really any need for you two to be like this.”

Laila’s head tilted in confusion.

“Why would they…”

At that moment, a sharp, thin whistle sound jolted the minds of all the members in the forest.